Dream Soldier
by NeroVII
Summary: An epidemic has broken out across the entire planet. The only way to save the human race and find a cure is to put their consciences into a super computer and preserve their bodies. In this new world of dreams, Cosmos, it is discovered that there are worst things that reside in the mind than just "Nightmares."
1. Chapter 1: The Boy from the Outside

Chapter 1: The Boy from the Outside

"…"

"….."

"….."

"_Where am I… is this a dream….? Am I still asleep? I have to be…_"

"Hey."

"_Whose voice is that…? It doesn't sound familiar. But why is she yelling so loudly…?_"

"Hey, wake up already! Can you hear me?" She reached out and placed her hands on my shoulders. I could feel the warmth of her hands through my thin jacket, but it was too real- even for just a dream.

I slowly opened my dreary eyes to a building full of people and littered with shops- a mall maybe…? I yawned and stretched a bit, then looked her in the eyes and wiped away the tears forming at the ends of my eyes. I nudged off her hands and she gave me a look of annoyance.

"You're one of the newcomers, right?" She pointed at the set of doors behind me. I turned to peer out of it and saw a train pulling off. "That there is where you came from, so-" She put her hands on her hips and leaned closer to me in an intimidating way," What's your name? My name is Sarah. You?"

I thought about the question for a second, but couldn't find an answer. "…"

"Hello, can't you hear me?" She leaned in closer; I could smell her shampoo and feel her gaze, forcing me away. "H-hey, where are you goin'?" I stumbled into the set of doors. "Tell me your name! C'mon, do you know your name?"

I couldn't come up with a name so I looked away in shame. "I don't… have one…" I looked up at her to see what her reaction was. She had a relieved expression on her face, or, maybe a dumbfounded one, hard to tell. "Where are we?"

Sarah took a few steps back and turned to the shops and the people wondering about. She spoke in an understanding tone, but doesn't seem to fully relate, "We're in Cosmos, a dream reality for the existence of mankind…" A tear drop formed under her eye, but she quickly wiped it away.

"Cosmos? Existence of… Mankind? What are you talking about?"

Sarah sighed and turned to me with a slight smile. I could probably tell that she wasn't well informed, but was, nevertheless, as shakin' up as well as I am. "I don't know all the details- sorry."

"_At least you knew that much, I don't know anything… Let alone, I can't remember my own name…"_ I walked beside her and looked around a bit. "Well, let's look around until we find some answers." I glanced over at her, and she immediately grabbed my hand and ran for the nearest shop. "I meant to a newsstand or something!"

She stopped and jerked my hand to the counter. "Look at the sign! Did you think I wanted to go shopping or something?"

"_Yes_." I looked at the sign. It read "PDI and Registration Center." The clerk stepped from around the corner and leaned on the counter. It was a medium aged guy, it was a little awkward, but I could tell he had an interest in Sarah. "So, what is this place for? What's a PDI, and why do we-"

He held up his hand, palm out, saying, "Can it." I could tell right away, this wasn't going to be a pleasant conversation. "Look, I'm a busy guy –lots to do, not a lick of time to do it. If you're a newcomer then you best shut it and listen up, kid."

"_Kid- who does he think he is? If only this wasn't a mall, I'd show you who's a kid- with a black eye…_" I folded my arms and upheld a look as though his viperous didn't affect me. I caught a glimpse of Sarah looking at me out the corner of her eye, but she quickly turned to her attention to the clerk.

"So, what exactly do you do…. Mister-"

"Call me Nick, here at the registration center we, er, I put you into this thing," he pushed the air itself and a screen appeared out from nowhere. He scrolled through the screen and poked at something. A noise erupted in my ears and Sarah turned to me and checked if I was okay. "Oops, didn't mean to do that…" He pushed the button again and the noise went away. I was getting annoyed by his ignorance but didn't want to ruin Sarah's chance at getting the information we needed. "So, this here is the PDI, Personal Data Interspace. It will be your greatest asset in this world. You see, it does everything from holding your money and items to even communicating with nit-wits like him."

"Oh-" Sarah looked as though she was interest. Her expression looked much like the one she gave me when we first met. "So, you mean… it's like in the games…? They made this place to be a dream reality, but it's nothing more than a big game to them…" She shook her head and gave a final word to me before she continued. "We'll have to ask elsewhere to figure out the whole deal of this place, but for now we should finish registration." I nodded in agreement. If anything, this PDI might tell all we need to know. "Tell me, how do we register?"

He swiped the screen away and leaned forward, "this is how." Nick picked up a small item, a baton like object and told us to hold out our dominant arm, uncovered by clothing or accessories. I pulled back my sleeve on my left arm and Sarah took off her bracelet on her right arm. "Now, this might make you feel a little dizzy, but it's only temporary."

His smile was enough to drive me away, but if this is all it took, why not. "Hurry up, old man." I held out my arm and he slapped it with the baton. I jerked back and a red mark was left from the impact. Sarah held out her arm and he gently tapped her skin, while looking her genuinely in the eyes. "How come you hit me so hard? No wonder no one likes your shop, old man." I walked out from the registration shop and waited for Sarah, whom decided that a few extra details would be necessary before we go on our search. As she walked outside the door, I stopped her with a little small talk, "So, how's your boyfriend?"

She flushed and nearly slapped me, but stopped midway and jabbed my forehead with enough force to throw me off balance. "You know it wasn't like that, besides, I wanted to know what kinda limits we're set to in this world."

"Limits? Don't you sound smart…" that was my worst choice of words that whole day…

She leaned in close again, with that look of ignorance and little to no tolerance for what I said, "OOOOH! So, you think just because I'm a blonde I have to some ditz about everything and showing off everything I got, huh!" She continued her onslaught of rage all the way 'til she backed me up to the wall… again… "HMPH!"

"H-hey, I didn't mean it like that! I-I-" I choked up to the point that I couldn't even say a word. Luckily she let up her wrath and slowly stomped away to the escalator, leading up stairs. "Hey, wait! Where are you going?" I started my sprint to catch up to her but was suddenly stopped by a strange sensation erupting in my head. I couldn't bear the pain and fell to one knee. I could hear a voice, one that was unknown to anyone around me. (Beware of the shadows. Stray from the light, and the darkness will consume you.). "_What are you, talking about? Who are you! ARGH!" _Once I recovered from the sudden pain I was magically relieved of, I looked ahead to see if Sarah was waiting for me, but she was nowhere to be seen.

"Great, now I've done it. She won't even listen to me since I- argh…" I stood up and initiated my pursuit for my only companion. I placed my hand on the rail and felt an immediate rapid shaking in the mechanisms under the rail- no the entire ground began to shake. With little time to react I ran up the escalator, stumbling but only made it halfway. The top of the escalator was ripped apart by a flood of dark fluid that I've never seen before. Everyone around me had the same I idea and began to run in an assortment of directions. The escalator whipped back and threw me downward, straight into the ground below.

I turned to see the situation as a whole, but everything was getting dark and I could barely move… I thought I was going to die… but then I could hear footsteps running to me. My body lifted up and I could feel my injuries being healed almost instantly. Someone was carrying me to a nearby shop that read "Steve's Meds." Whoever was helping me must have expected safety in a small compact…

"Hey, can you move?" The owner of the voice was a young male, maybe a year or two younger than me. "Listen, I'm as scared as you, so I know you can relate. I don't want to die- so… um… let's work together, please."

"Do I have much of a choice, partner?" I gained my strength and stood up. I leaned against the counter and a menu popped up before me, asking if I wished to buy medicine for my travels. "This must be the PDI, how do I close it?"

The young boy walked up beside me and swiped it away like the clerk did before. "The PDI responds to you and the environment, so it's, um, more comfortable and convenient for the user." He walked to the door and peered out of it; at that moment he jerked back his head and pulled me behind him. "T-there's something out there!"

"Huh? You mean, like, a monster?"

He shook his head in denial, "I can't tell that much, the lights are dimming out. I can barely see anything past the next shop…" He pulled up his PDI menu and selected, from what I could see, a pole. I couldn't believe it but a pole materialized in his hands. He handed it to me saying, "You're much stronger than I am. It would be best if you use it." He peered out the door again and this time signaled that we should move.

"You're a brave little guy, what's your name?"

He turned back at me and then back at the hall. His voice cracked a little but regained itself, "I- my name is Aaron. What's your name?"

"Sorry, but I can't remember much about myself."

"Well, can I call you anything?" Aaron leaned back to try and balance himself for a full auto sprint to freedom. "Well… I know this might be weird but, when I looked at on the ground before…. I saw a set of letters gathers around your head area. It looked like noir- Can I call you that? It sounds cool to me."

I nodded, but drew in fear as I saw a horrifying image of a rotten figure approaching us. I quickly yanked Aaron away from the door in enough time to avoid the monsters reach. "Dude, is THAT the thing you saw? It's like a thing from a nightmare or a horror movie!"

Aaron shushed me so the monster wouldn't detect us with our guard down. It paced to the door; its shadow loomed down the dimly lit floor of the medical shop. Aaron nudged me and pointed at the pole he gave me. I put two and two together and slowly stood up.

Aaron slid out the way, enough for me to move through and knock out the monster without being caught. As I readied my weapon, I noticed something jabbing me in the side. I leaned forward to try and get a look at it, but it held onto my jacket. Aaron reached out to catch it but the object rolled out of his hands and shattered on the ground. We froze in sheer terror of the events that were about to unfold. I grabbed my companion and rushed at the monster in front of us, shoving it aside. We ran down the mall to a store that led to the outside, but was as dark as night. In the darkness I could figures, tormented by their own sins, standing like monuments to others who stray into the abyss. The light shone in front of us, but it felt like we were being pulled back with every step.

"Noir, go on without me! I don't have much to live for anyway… Go!" Aaron grabbed my hand and pried it off his wrist. "This place won't allow both of us to escape… we must leave someone behind…" I could tell he was desperate, but couldn't take the effect of leaving the first person he befriended to die in this hell hole.

"Fine, I know how we can settle this," I placed my hand on his shoulder and stared at his face. He was definitely scared, I couldn't think of any way to calm him down so I tossed him toward the light. "I'll find you on the other side. I have a friend who might still be in there. I can't just leave her."

Aaron looked back at me, and then at the door. "I- I can't leave you, Noir…" He strode back to me and held out his hand for a bro-fist. "We're friends, aren't we? We'll save her together!"


	2. Chapter 2: Into the Darkness

Chapter 2: Into the Darkness

Name: Noir

Location: Eastern Gate

Aaron and I ran out of the dark filled store and back into the mall. The monsters in there were increasing in numbers and we would be quickly outnumbered in no time. "Noir, look up there!" I looked at Aaron, who was pointing frantically at something on the top floor, the third floor. "I saw something drop from up there, it should land at any second. I looked like a girl being chased… we should go check it out." I nodded in agreement and started for the escalator, but remembered that the weird fluid took it out earlier.

"Hey, we can't get all the way up there like this. We have to find an elevator or something before we lose our chance to get to her!"

Aaron nodded and he pointed to his wrist saying, "Look at this." He clicked the side of his index finger on his middle finger and a strange ping noise ringed in my head. "This is sonar, like in the old military games and movies." Aaron lifted his head and looked around. I looked around as well, but nothing appeared before me. "Try it and see what I see."

I flicked my fingers and a pulse went out from my position to those all around me. When I looked around this time I could see bright lights like auras around the monsters. I did it again and looked up to the top floor and saw two auras of the same color, but different from the monsters, in comparison, red to blue. "There! She's with someone else, top floor beside that store there."

Overwhelmed by joy that I now stand a chance in getting to her I rushed to the steps across the mall, Aaron slowly behind. I could hear him running heavily behind me, tired. "Take this set of stairs, here. It's faster."

I paused and turned to the steps, facing the open window ceiling with the image of a bloodcurdling red moon engulfing the sky. Aaron walked past me and up the steps. I'm not sure if he saw it or not, but it seems his attention was set on the goal. "Aaron, is this moon normal?"

He stopped at the top of the steps and scanned the area for enemies. His eyes were constantly moving for the sight of an enemy in which we can hide and avoid confrontation. "Well," he started, "I've only been here for an hour, it shouldn't be night in only a matter of seconds." His logic is clear and sensible but didn't fit the current situation. "C'mon, the enemy is starting to gather in that area. Now is our chance to get around safely."

"Right," I followed behind him along the second floor to a winding stairwell that was damaged and covered in the black liquid from before. "What is that stuff, is this what caused those things down there to come out?"

"Maybe, don't touch it," Aaron hopped over the ooze to the next step and continued upward. "I don't get it, why would this happen at a Gate."

"Gate?" I hopped over the ooze after Aaron and landed on the step, creaking as I straightened my form. "This mall is a Gate?"

"Yea, um, Gates are like the entrance ways for people to come into this world in one peace." A crumbling noise, faint but sharp, signaled for us to end our little chat short. I took another step, my foot went through the ground and I nearly went through but I managed to grab hold of a solid piece of what remained. The rest however dropped to the bottom floor and alerted all the monsters of where we were. I glanced down and saw the monsters gathering below. "Noir, hang on!" I looked over at Aaron and saw a dark figure walk up behind him. " I'm coming, j-just hang on!"

"No, there's someone behind you!"

The figure yanked Aaron back into the darkness in a chokehold. I could hear Aaron struggling as I tried to pull myself up, but when I got a hold of good ground, they were gone. I called out Aaron's name, but nothing answered. "Dammit, Aaron answer me!"

I ran up the remaining steps and sent out a pulse of my sonar, nothing could be seen around me. I tried again and again, but to no prevail. "_Why isn't it working? It's sending out a pulse but not even Aaron or whatever took 'em are here…_" My senses kicked in and I suddenly fell back, stumbling into the railing. The monsters from below were climbing up the walls like spiders, agile and fierce. I pulled out my pole from the PDI and got back up from the ground. They were surrounding me quickly, so I turned around and sprint toward the opposite side of the mall. The floor was loose and continued to crumble. I could barely walk straight and the madness was driving me insane. My two first encounter with people in this world lead to their deaths.

A piece of tile stuck up out the ground, out of my view, causing me to trip. I fell hard, scraping my leg. The monsters drew closer and closer. I could tell the same fate that befell Sarah and Aaron was going to happen to me, very soon. My pole had slipped out of my hand when I fell, too far from my reach. I grabbed at the air, each a missed attempt to obtain my pole. The monsters were only a few feet away. The growling of the monsters sent chills up my spine, but knowing that I'd die having done nothing to protect my friends makes my existence feel meaningless.

I reached out one last time at my pole; my fingers grazed the edge of the metal, only pushing it further from my grasp. The monsters seized my legs and jerked me toward them, my fingers rubbed and I could see a large red aura ahead of me. It was moving very rapidly at me. At a moments notice I could feel its footsteps pounding the ground, shaking the entire floor. I kicked the monsters holding my legs and rolled to the rail for support. The brute of the red aura slammed into the horde of monsters behind me. The rail rattles upon impact, sending me into a mild disillusionment, causing me to fall to the ground. The darkness began to affect my mind. I could barely see and my body was weak. I could feel that the brute had stopped and was holding still to the many monster underlings, which he viciously ripped apart.

My fingers rubbed again and I could see a faint aura. It approached me and knelt down in front of me. I could hear a voice, a male voice. It said, "looks like I got the spoils of this victory, kid. Catcha later, if you can last through the darkness of coarse." He stood up and let out a sigh. I managed to turn my head, but an immense pain shot up my neck and down my spine. "Too bad though, guess you weren't all pure of heart after all. You're just like me, kid. A no good crook, a criminal, a vile villain." He paced away to a darkened store with a flashing light flicking in the back. He stopped at the door and turned to me. "Come find me when you wanna join the winning side."

He stepped into the store and stood for moment. The light flickered and he disappeared. My vision was severely damaged and I could barely move. The brute walked up to me, covered in darkness. It stared into my eyes, snorted and reached its hand over my head, but stopped. I could hear yelling, not of fear, but of anger, countless voices approaching me from all directions. I heard a swift kick and the brute was sent flying into the store doors, crashing through them. "Take the boy and the girl to the infirmary for examination." The voice drew closer, "what is this thing? A boy?"

I could feel warmth touching my skin, like a hand. The owner, I could not see, had soft gentle hands. "I might be able to reverse this, but it's a risk that we don't need to take."

The footsteps drew closer and stopped in front of my face, kneeing in front of me. It was a young man, about elder 20s, who placed his blade in front of my eyes. "Well, if he wants to live, he'd best hope that the darkness doesn't cling to his heart. Or else I'd happily end him… slowly."

Disclaimer: (Sorry I forgot it for the first chapter but here it is now) All rights are reserved to their rightful owners. I do not own characters (intentionally or unintentionally) from the anime or manga of the two anime I based this off of. This is meant to be an original story and not draw toward the story of either anime, so sorry if it was a letdown for those who sought a cross-over of character, I only crossed the concepts.


	3. Chapter 3: Into the Deep

Chapter 3: Into the Deep

Name: Norr  
Location: Aniplex City

I woke up, dazed and confused. My limps were numb and heavy. Aaron was asleep in a chair across the room, and Sarah was nowhere to be found. I could hear a constant beeping breaking the silence of the darkness.

My hand twitched and my legs shifted. I could slowly feel my body regaining its strength. I sat up and looked around the void room. The only light being emitted came from either the moon or the hallway light seeping through the cracks of the door. "Where am I... And why do I feel so... tired..." The beeping stopped and a strange hissing noise kicked in for a moment only to give way back to the beeping. I swiped the air to open my menu, my clothes and the pole I had were still there. After equipping them, I slid out of bed to stretch my legs, "Aaron, you up?"

He stretched and let out a brief sigh, "yeah, must have dosed off for a bit. Glad to see you're okay."

"Yeah, well, I feel like crap. What happened back in the mall? Is Sarah... ya know..."

"Yeah, she's fine. The military unit came in and saved us before that guy tried to kidnap us." He stood up and placed his hand on my shoulder. The moonlight faded to nothing as a large cloud eclipsed the sky, "let's take it slow, your body hasn't fully recovered just yet. Sarah's out cold in her bunk just down the way, and I'm headed by there to get some supplies for you."

I pulled out my pole and used it as a crutch for the time-being. We walked out of the dark filled room and into the array of bright lights blinding the hallway. I shielded my face from the light and followed behind Aaron. "So, what's going on, why am I here?"

Aaron slowed down a bit to let me catch up, and had an expression as if he were looking for an answer himself. "To be honest, I'm not completely sure myself." We reached the end of the hallway and a few docters came rushing by as if the building were on fire. I overheard one of them saying something about a New-Type Nightmare in a desert or something. "As you can see, things are pretty crazy around here. And it's not letting up any time soon." Aaron signaled me to follow him and we continued down the hall to the bunks. "Ever since we got here, they've been talking about the spontaneous Nightmare attacks occurring everywhere."

Nightmares? Does he mean those things that tried to kill us? "So, why are we here? I feel fine, we can leave right?" I limped behind Aaron as he held open the door to the bunk section of the enormous facility. "Let's get Sarah and leave this place. There's no reason to stay once we get the supplies, right?"

"Wrong," a strange voice that sounded familiar tore through the tense atmosphere almost startling me. "You're under military watch until further notice." A man, about my age grabbed my jacket and shoved me against the wall. "Look here, punk, I don't take any crap when it comes to my job; so you can act up or slip up once, and you'd better expect a swift death."

The boy shoved me away and stormed off out into the hallway. "What's his problem, I just woke up and already getting hassled." Aaron chuckled a little and waved me over. "So, where's Sarah?"

Aaron pointed under the bunk at a small indention in the floor. He reached over it and a small light whipped out and attached to the adnormal tile. "This is one of the new abiliities we gained in this world, called Psionics." The light condenced into a straight line and pulled the tile off the ground, revealing a hidden passageway underground. "Sarah's Brennan sneaking out at night to the outskirts of town. She's kept this to herself for a while now but I don't think she's taking your condition very well."

I peered down the ominous hole and started to climb down it. I knew I could change things and figure out how to escape this mental prison we now call home. "Well Aaron, the madam awaits!" After a few minutes we arrived at a fork in the path. One way held a faint light, while the other was a rapture of darkness. Assuming the obvious notion, we went to the lighted path. Here we found a cavern filled with spring water and illuminated by the moon's light. A figure was seen down by the water on a ledge. Aaron gazed behind me and ended nearly zoning out for a moment. "So how do we get down there?"

Aaron pulled out the weird light thing and shot it across the cave, latching onto a stalactite. "We'll swing across and land in the water below." As simple as it sounds, I went along with it. He showed me how to summon the Grapple; it was one of the basic skills used to get around from place to place. "All you need to do is guide it to where you want it to land. Once you get the hang of it, its pretty simple and fun." At saying that, he hopped of the ledge we were perched on and swung to a nearby catwalk-like pillar that had fallen over. I did the same and shot out my grapple. As I swung, I noticed the moon was in its harvest color and surrounded by clouds. This was a huge difference from before when it was a blood moon. I landed on a pillar lower than Aaron and staggered to gain my balance. "Nice, you're better than I thought you'd be, Norr." He swung again straight to the figure in the moonlight, landing right next to it. "Now you try, it's a bit of a stretch but you'll make it."

I got a running start, jumped and grappled across to where Aaron stood, but my line gave way to early and snapped midway. I flew across the water a few feet and splashed in the ice-cold water. I swam up to the surface and called out to Aaron. "What happened? I thought I had it..."

"You lost concentration when you were firing it." The figure stood above me, and reached out to pull me up. "But too bad it couldn't fix that stupid look of yours." I reached up and pulled myself up onto the small island.

I shook myself dry and looked at the person before me. It was Sarah. She had on a uniform like the one the military unit was wearing. "So, what's with the gettup?"

"I'm a member of the Anti-Nightmare squadron. I joined about three days ago." She looked over at Aaron who also had on the male version of the uniform. "He joined as well. We've been stationed for training until the commander can decide on who to fill in for the last two slots in our squad."

I looked myself over, "how 'bout me?" I hold my own you know." They looked at each other then at me. I could tell something was wrong. "What is it?"

"Well..."

"You can't join."

This came as a shock to me. I couldn't believe that she'd be so quick to say something Luke that... "Why not? I went in to save you and took on those Nightmare guys on nothing more than sonar and my pole!"

She stared me down for a moment and turned away, "because they think you're becoming one of them..." Aaron at that time looked at me in fear and placed his hand his sword. "Back in the gate, you got infected by the Nightmare's Virus when you stepped in the black sludge."

I stepped back, rearing to the edge of the island. "So, you're saying I'm one of them? You're saying that just because I stepped in that crap, I'm automatically one of THEM!"

Aaron took a step closer and pulled out his sword slowly, "it's not only that but they think you may be what caused it... Norr..." He turned to Sarah for approval. She nodded and pulled out something from her back pocket. "They want you dead, out of sight, and away from the public. You may be a carrier of the virus... and they can't take the risk of you spreading this disease to innocent people..."

Sarah tossed something in the water, and spun kicked me into it. "You'll understand soon enough, once we get you out of here." My vision was blurred from the water. I could barely see, breathe, and everything was getting dark. I heard a compressed explosion from under the water and an immediate suction pulled me deeper. With what little I could see, Aaron was swimming down toward me, reaching out. But by the time he reached me, I was out cold.


	4. Chapter 4: Escape

Chapter 4: Escape

Name: Norr  
Location:Aniplex City

The sound of rushing water woke me from my well venture sleep. Aaron pulled me to my feet and handed me my pole. He looked apologetic, but couldn't find the right words. "What was that for?"

"We had to make it look believable. It's hard to explain right now but it'll make sense later. Right now we need to get you out of here," Sarah pulled out a small handgun and started across the small docking area hidden under the bridge above us. "Hurry up, they won't take long to figure out what's going on and catch up to us."

"Who? Who's looking for me?"

Aaron walked up beside me and placed his hand on my shoulder. He shook his head and walked past me toward Sarah. They nearly walked in unison. I could barely tell them apart. And just like the outside world, I was the different one. I was the one that didn't belong. The one that wasn't important to anyone but myself... I guess here would've been a change for me... but it's turning out be a disaster.

"Hurry up, they're not too far behind us. If they catch up, we're in deep trouble."

Sarah was holding open the door to a small compartment that held a small hole in the floor. I walked in and instantly turned around stopping the door with my foot. "Alright this is far enough, tell me what's going on for real this time!"

Sarah shoved me in the room and jabbed my chest with her finger," pipe down punk, we're almost outta this joint." I looked her in the face and could tell immediately this woman wasn't Sarah. I acted as though I was going to cooperate and stood above the hole. I looked around to see if Aaron was nearby, and he wasn't. The woman peered out the door and mmurmured to herself about something of grave importance. With her being distracted I quickly whipped around and shot out my grapple at the door, yanking it shut and hitting her in the head. She fell on the floor unconscience for the time being. With this, I stepped over her and ran through the docks to the street. I walked for a mile or two, far enough to get away from her and her companion. A sigh a few feet ahead of me read, "Now Leaving Aniplex City, Come Again." Unfortunately, I doubt I'd be doing anything like that anytime soon. I started down the way and found a metro stop just outside an empty gas station a few miles from the city.

The lights were out completely and the rust on the pumps gave off an uninviting aura. I rested for a moment and looked up at the sky. My eyes were heavy and my body was slowly on the way as well. A screeching sound like tires on wet pavement woke me up, and enough time to see a delusional driver headed for me. I hopped up and darted away from the station which blew up as soon as the car smashed through it. The shockwave knocked me down into a shallow ditch and put a few bruises on me as well. I stood up and walked over to see the total damage of the situation. The car was totalled and whoever was in it was as well. I turned away and stopped. I could hear yelling, and turned back to the car. A man burst out of the flames in critical condition rolling to put out the flames. I rushed over to him but he had passed by the time I reached him. In an instant a life was gone before my eyes. I fell to my knees and tried to slide the body away from the fire. Either it be naiveness or idiousy, I tried to contact the local authorities but the lines were on hold for some reason. I looked back at the city. The music from hold kicked in by this time and made the situation seem longer than it was. Someone on the line answered my call," Hello, hello?"

"This is Aniplex City Police Department Jann speaking, what is you're emergence-"

A loud boom erupted from the call and disconnected us, at the same time, I could hear a thunderous roar that shook the ground moments later, causing me to fall down. I looked up at the city once again only to see a screen of smoke and fire fill the sky. A missile streamed overhead and bombed the city, sending another shockwave my way. I was down again, my legs were slowly giving out and I was exhausted from my long walk. With the strength I had left I tried to stand but felt my leg was caught onto something. I turned my head to see what the problem was. The man that I thought was dead was grabbing at me in a furious way. His face and body seemed to merge with the shadows, creating a whole new creature.

I kicked him off and tried to hobble away but was intercepted by a wall of similarly distorted figures. I pulled out my pole and prepared for a fight. I was greatly outnumbered and my condition wasn't helping. I swung a few times to knock them back and gain some distance. This bought me enough time to slide through an opening toward the road. I ran as fast as I could before my legs completely shutdown. The mob turned and surrounded me again. I had enough energy for one last move. I could stand and fight or dive into the ditch that's connected to the nearby river and drift to the unknown. My head was pounding and my muscles were aching. The stress couldn't have been worse. Time was wasting and I had no options left... I jumped into the water below and immediately got jerked by the current. I reached up to grasp for air but all my attempts were in vein for the water pushed and pulled me like a ragdoll.

Reality Switch: (*Reality Switch is merely a quick turn from one person view to another, this will be used often in the duration of the various scenerios to try and get a more in depth look at their world)

Name: Officer Percy Rogers  
Location: Downtown, Anniplex City

I lowered my arm from shielding my face. The blast severed the city in half and majority of the populace were injured or dead. My car was rammed into a fallen piece of debry from the collapsed building before me. My car door flopped open as I staggered out of it to search my surroundings. "Hello, is anyone here? Is anyone here?!" I could feel the pressence of someone in danger nearby. They weren't far from my location, possibly in the house that fell over, blocking the street from further access.

After huddling the scattered furniture and once cherished belongings of the ones who were going to enjoy their time together... if this hadn't have happened... All I could think about was my daughter. She was alone with the babysitter outside the city so she should be fine... or at least that's what I wanted to believe... I pulls out my PDI and tried to contact any nearby officers but the signal was jammed. My car was totalled and my equipment was destroyed. Though without much, I managed to keep my gun and a few rounds of ammo on me. I climbed over mounds of debry searching for what may be a soul in danger but to no avail. My search was then interrupted by a scream a few houses over. Before I could exit the house I toppled over, bullets wizzed past me and yelling could be heard. I raced to their aid only to find a group of survivors escaping to an alleyway from a swarm of vague husks, which turned their attention to me. "Hey, wait I'm with the Anniplex Police Department!" They seemed to ignore what I said and kept running down the alleyway to the main street. I had heard reports of strange husk-like creatures attacking people and then vanishing into the shadows. By the looks of it, they were the Nightmare things I had heard about. They've never attack a city before, so why now? Questions filled my mind but none could be answered. For now, all I can do is secure the police department and round up as many survivors as I can before the unimaginable happens. I readied my gun, took a breathe, and pulled the trigger.


	5. Chapter 5: The Plan (Revised)

p style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"Chapter 5: The Plan/p  
p style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"Name: Percy Rogersbr /Location: Aniplex City/p  
p style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"After dealing with the husks, I went after the group of people I saw earlier. The alleyway had a few of those husks wondering about in it. More seemed to walk out of the walls where the darkness was an abyss hidden from the light of the streets. A few of them gathered near the end of the alley. My best bet is to try and avoid combat as much as possible until I can get to more ammo. In saying so, I grappled past them and landed on the rooftop of a nearby building. I replaced my handgun for my flashlight, then sent out a sonar pulse twice to signal that I was an able human willing to help. Looking about me, there were only enemy signitures about me./p  
p style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;""Where did they go? They were a few feet ahead of me." I hopped to the next building, rolling and sending out another pulse of my sonar. "Nothing...," a sense of failure fell over me. I couldn't tell why but it felt like I had given in to a sudden despair. "I gotta stay in the game, head out of the clouds Rogers... I can't let THAT happen again... enough has been lost already. Those people are here somewhere... close.t out a sigh and knelt down, peering at a gathering horde of husk in the street. A scream came from the building behind me, I nearly flew over to it and leapt to the roof but got held down by a hand from the shadows. I pulled out my flashlight and the hand made a sizzling sound and released my leg. With that I leapt off and rolled on top of the building. The door to the stairs flung open, a woman came busting out with a small child in her arms. I rushed over to her aid, she looked up at me with a look of horror and desperation, "please Officer, they're coming!"/p  
p style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"I understood what she meant, my handgun automatically materialized. The door creaked open once again, this time with an emense feeling of evil about it, one I had never felt before. This one was different from the rest, it held a bloodthirsty odor filled with nothing more than a taste for ripping anything in it's path to shreds./p  
p style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;""Stand up, we can't face this thing up here. We don't have any room, its got the advantage over us." I tried to sound calm to try and ease her tension. She could tell what I was doing and cooperated with me. "Come on, there's an emergency ladder just over there, behind us. Move slowly and don't look back," I readied my gun at the door. I could see a glimmer in the shadows. Eyes were shining back at me, focused./p  
p style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;""Becareful, that thing followed me and my son here, splitting us from the others," She warned as she stood and crept to the ladder with her son at her side. I kept my attention on the door as much as I could. The monster within dared not to move an inch, not as long as I kept my eye on it./p  
p style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;""Don't worry, I'll get to safety," I started for the while keeping a steady look at the door. The woman and her child were down the ladder at this time and waiting for me. As soon as I peeked down to check how far I was from the railing, the beast charged out of the shadows and pounced for me. With a moments notice, I leapt out of the way and rolled onto my feet. The beast slid to a stop and spun to face me. I could tell that wasn't going to be tricked into falling of the side so easily. So I thought of a new plan to get it to fall of. It charged again, but this time it side-swiped me into the wall and readied for the kill. My body ached severely, it must've been high leveled to do so much damage in one swipe. It leapt one last time, but this time I threw one of my pepper sprays into it mouth and toppled under the beast as it exploded in it's mouth. This left a small window of opportunity that I couldn't dare miss I shot my grapple into the beast's back and hopped off the side of the building, successfully landing to the ground, and yanking the beast off the side. It fell to a heavy thud and was silenced. I could tell that my level had increased dramatically from this. If my guess was right, then there's no way normal civilians would be able to make it out alive. Husks are one thing, but if a brute or Titan class Nightmare spawn, this city will be entirely lost./p  
p style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"I walked around the building to where the ladder was and tried to calm the woman down from all the excitement. "Well, the Nightmare is gone for good. I'm a police officer for the Anniplex police station." I held out my hand to pull her to her feet. "You'll be safer there miss-"/p  
p style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;""The name's Charlotte, this is my son," she reached for my hand and let me pull her to her feet. "My son's name is Zack. He's only 8, wouldn't hurt a fly." She looked me in the face and turned to her son. He had an innocent but determined look on his face. I admired that about him, I thought an introduction would ease his tension./p  
p style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;""Hey there, my name is Pierce Rogers. Everyone calls me Percy for short." I placed my hand on his and lifted it up to hips mother's. "Keep her safe, no matter what. Got that, Captain Zack?"/p  
p style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;""Y-yea... you aren't like the other guys we've met are you?"/p  
p style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;""No," I stood up and held my head high, "I'm not." Charlotte and Jack gathered themselves and followed behind me. I pulled out my gun and readied it as we walked down the alley. Once we hit the main road, I turned to the hillside that held the police station. The building was intact, but telling by the way things are, its likely that no one was still there. Either way, we need the supplies being held there. Charlotte may be of help, but she won't be any good dead. If I can get her to toughen up a bit, this little venture a helluva lot easier. But how can I keep myself alive if I have to worry about the small things like holding hands and wiping tears... I turned to Charlotte and nodded her to stay close to me at all costs. She listened, bold looking, but still frail to protecting her son. The light from the posts kept the streets clear, but not enough to keep stragglering husks from lurking about. I held up my hand in a halting position and crept to a nearby abandoned car to avoid detection. There were only three of them, I along could take them... if I had the ammo or right equipment... even basic training said to avoid prolonged close contact with Nightmares. They have a certain... quality... that causes delusions, anxiety, and a few other mental problems if you stray for too long. That being said, my only means of taking them out is by my gun. "If only there was another way..." I peered over my shoulder to find anything of use... nothing. I focused again on the targets ahead blocking the road to my objective. Charlotte slid beside me and tossed something over the car, smashing it into a car a couple feet away from the road./p  
p style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;""We don't have much time, let's use this opening while we can!" Charlotte rushed ahead of me up the winding street with her son at her side. I had no choice but to use this brief moment of confusion to slide my way through the small crowd of mindless husks. I ran through, avoiding a few close shaves, and escaping to the open road where Charlotte awaited me a safe distance away. "I- I'm fine." I strode past her to the straightaway leading to the station's doors. A sudden loud bang erupted, breaking the silence shrouding the area. I immediately fell down to my knees and looked back up ahead of me. A boot met my gaze, kicking me back to my side./p  
p style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;""Pierce!" I heard Zack call out to me. He rushed to my aid, shielding me from further harm. "I'll protect you from this mean man!"/p  
p style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;""Zack!" Charlotte walked up to retrieve Zack and paused with a horrific look on her face. I rolled over to attempt to stand but fell back down when a sudden sharp pain paralyzed my leg. "Officer Percy... You!"/p  
p style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"I looked up again to find a stocky man standing before me with a large rifle from our arsenal. His uniform was similiar to mine, but with a second glance, I could tell he was one of my surperiors. "Listen, we don't mean any harm, we're only here for some supplies and a place to hold any stranded survivors..."/p  
p style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;""Survivors?" The man roared with a sarcastic scoff, "well looky here, no one's answered. There are no survivors, you're just slowing yourself down to be killed by one of those welps." He lowered his rifle and walked back to the door of the station. "In the end, it'll get you killed, either one way or another. So to give you some advice, forget those 'obligations' you have with you're job. They were lost when the Embassy fired that missile on the city and EMP Bomb that was so kindly left in the middle of the Downtown Shopping Center."/p  
p style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"I clintched my leg and used one of my first aids from my inventory to heal the would and remove the bullet. "So, what are getting at?" I knew he wasn't telling this to us for nothing. He wanted something done in exchange for whatever we may need. With little choice, how could we say no. Without those guns or better equipment, we're nothing more than walking snacks to the Nightmares. "Well? Out with it."/p  
p style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"He smirked with a mischievous look etched across his face, "Find the bomb."/p 


	6. Chapter 6: End of the Line

Chapter 6: End of the Line

Name: Percy Rogers  
Location: Anniplex City

Charlotte and I stood in the hallway entrance area of the police station. I could sense her unease about the man from before. "So," I tried t break the ice in a simple way to not agitate her too much. "Should we trust him?"

She looked at me with a disgusted look, "No." She turned to the window, the rain picked up soon after an hour since we entered the building. "Who's to say that he won't do it again? To me, to you...or Zack..."

"I know, but- "

A loud thud interrupted our conversation, the man walked back through the double doors with a huge dufflebag. After looking at both of us, he strode past us in a patronizing way that would tick anyone off. "What are you waiting for, the next battalion?"

"We need weapons and you know that."

I nodded with Charlotte, she was blunt and I could feel the hostility in her voice. "She's right sir. Without any weapons, the bomb is a lost cause."

The man scratched his scruffy beard and put down the ruffle bag. "Heh, guess so. Go get 'em then, Big Shot." With that, he walked out the main door and leaned against the pole, waiting for us.

"You should wait here, Charlotte." I held out my hand to keep her from bum-rushing my superior. Her fierce determination is frightening, but his rifle rounds pierce better than her glare. "Let me and him take care of the bomb. It'll be safer that way. Or at least for Zack's safety."

"Are you love-birds going to hurry the hell up?"

"Ignore him, I'll stay and look after my son. Please, be careful Percy..." She sounded sincerely concerned. I had little to run on for trusting my superior, aside from the (little) respect I have for him. "Go on, if he keeps cussing around my son, I'll make sure the Nightmares are the last thing he'll be worried about."

"Right," I nodded in agreement with a wry smile. "I'll just grab some ammo and head out with what I got." I started to the weapon cache and passed by a well kept metal bat. It wasn't one from any of our officers so I felt less bad about taking it with me. After grabbing all the ammo I could carry, while leaving plenty for later, I met up with the Captain. "I'm ready, sir."

"Good, we're taking the straight away just around that building over yonder." He raised his behemoth man-paw at an elevated position, slowly forcing out a stubby finger in the direction of an abandoned factory a couple miles from our current location. "It'll only take 30 minutes to hurdle those couple of buildings. Unless you can keep up that is." His voice was filled with a cocky malice that would irritate even the most disciplined people. I nodded in agreement of a 30 minute venture over the buildings. Taking our time is best, besides I don't think I can handle another Saber-cat attack.

"So, the bomb is downtown?" I asked.

"Yea, isn't that where you two were coming from?" He hopped over the rail with the bag strapped close to him. He landed with a thud on a rooftop just a few feet below. I followed after, rolling to a safe landing. "Don't know how you coulda missed it. Rookies nowadays..."

"It sounded and felt much further from my position..." I thought for a moment- how does he know I came from downtown. I took the indirect way of getting here, not to mention my search for the survivors...

"Hurry up, Rookie," he was leaping across buildings like they were hurdles. I made a running start and lept across the buildings after him.

We steadily approached the factory in a fraction of the estimated time. The Captain commended me on keeping up, I was thoroughly impressed he actually said something 'nice'. I stayed close, my handgun readied for an ambush. "Ease yourself, Rookie. Scale the building and scan the area. We don't need to be caught off guard while moving about."

I grappled to the top of the building and rolled to a leveled platform. I sent out four pulses, the last two picked up several signatures headed this way. "Watch it, something's coming- fast..."

The Captain grappled up the building as soon as I finished speaking. He stomped past me and peered through the sky-glass roof under our feet . "That's it right there!" He pointed at the dark abyss swirling toward the glass. We ran to the main road, hopping over thin spots in the glass that were cracking. The Captain hopped off the edge to the next wing of the factory. I picked up speed to jump, but the glass shook violently and caved in. Managing to grab the support beam, I slid to a halt and fell to a platform below me. The floorboard rattled when I slammed into it; dry-rotted with time, the boards could give out as well.

I got to my feet and dashed for the nearest window. The darkness lashed at the floorboard, causing the entire second floor to fall to shambles into the sea of black furious waters. My grapple pulled me up to the third floor. The railing fell off and the boards were rattling to the point the nails holding them down fell out. My feet shifted and slid uncontrollably as the building slowly caved to on side. Within seconds, the darkness formed a hand and reached out to crush me. I used the little time I had to fling myself out of the window and grappled to the nearby building to recover myself.

The darkness roared, busting out of the fallen building in a colossal humanoid form. It turned to me and began charging toward my direction. I felt a sudden tug pull me off the building. I flew through the air to a few feet away from the Captain. He was running at full speed, stopped to beckon me to do the same, and zoomed down the street again. Stumbling at first, I got my balance and ran behind him. The giant beast pursued us with great intent. It was gaining on us, and it was a one way street. The buildings lining the street were various in size and plotted about every so often. I fired my grapple to the corner of the building to my immediate left. I pulled the line as hard as I could and flung in a giant, condensed semi-circle, snatching up the Captain. I released the line at just the peak of our flight, sending us in a destined flight into the Federal Banking building just a mile from our target. Shattering the window frames along the way, we tossed about uncontrollably into the cubicles on the fourth floor. My stamina was depleted to the point I could barely move. Light shown through the gigantic hole we made in the glass, shielding us from the husks lurking in the shadows.

The captain crawled to his dufflebag and held it close as he stood to his feet. He staggered to the hallway mumbling something to himself. By this time I was able to move again, disoriented but still functional. I limped to the door leading to the hallway.

"Its so close..."

"Captain?" I pushed the door open slowly. An ominous feeling overcame the area, engulfing the background noise, causing even the smallest of noises could be heard with keen accuity.

The dufflebag in the hall, with its owner nowhere in sight. I reached out to grab the bag but the unearthly sense shot my hand back in a recoil.

My hand shook uncontrollably with a cold chill freezing to the bone. "What was that..." I felt a strange urge to run... and as I saw a claw slide across the ground and stab the dufflebag, I knew I should have listened to it.


	7. Chapter 7: Awakened

Chapter 7: Awakened

Name: Percy Rogers

Location: Federal Banking Building, Anniplex City

I gazed at the well honed claw that was doused in blood. The sight alone sent a chill throughout my body and I'm glad I wasn't the dufflebag. It lifted the bag to the shadows that hid its true form and seemed to almost be examining it for something, but couldn't find it. I slowly dove into my menu to find my metal bat and equipped it. Once selected I held my bat in a readied position to either block or attack, depending on which arose first.

With no sign of the Captain, I had to guess he had met his fate. And for whatever the reason, he defended that bag with his life. Assuming it had something to do with the bomb, I had little to no choice but to get it back." The monsters eyes met mine, the rain roared, and the papers scattered throughout the room. I kept my eye on the monster, making sure it didn't try to get the upper-hand. It tossed the bag back in the room and walked down the hall with an intimidating posture. It almost seemed to be ignoring me and held its concern elsewhere. I didn't mind this seeing as I got the bag back, but when I went to check it for any equipment, it was empty- and that monster probably knew that as well. My heart settled, but at the same time drew heavy.

That Nightmare was on a whole new level for sure, and I only lucked out that it ignored me this time. But was in the bag that it wanted; and why is it gone? Isn't Captain dead? Or maybe he's-" A bolt of lightning broke my train of concentrated thought. It was probably for the better that I try to find that monster and steal what its looking for rather than face it head one. "Argh, why am I always in these sticky situations...?" I decided to attempt contacting Charlotte via my emergency channel. It may be the only thing that still works, as long as the EMP didn't take out the TMOS (Telepathic Monitoring and Operator Systems) which are only activated by triggering a high concentration messaging system embedded in the user's mind to contact another person they can clearly see in their thoughts."

I used my energy to send out a communication chain to Charlotte about the situation. The signal got through- barely, but enough to get a message across. "H-hello, Percy?"

"Yea, this is me Charlotte." I told her about the titan, the Captain, and the new Nightmare." "So, you're trapped in the bank with a high level Nightmare and that pain-in-the-ass might be dead?" She was concerned but relieved that we were still alive. I felt her shaking as her voice choked when she spoke occasionally. "D-do you think you'll be okay?"

"Of coarse, I can't give up yet. If I can find out what the monster is after, I might be able to stop the bomb myself." I searched the room for supplies and information. "I'll contact you after I've found something..."

"And if you don't?"

"I turned to the hole in the wall and then at the dark hallway. Her question wasn't one that had a good chance of a happy outcome. I sighed and answered her, "you should find a way out of this city safely with your son. This isn't a good situation, and the only way to move forward is to walk through hell." She didn't like that answer but she accepted it better than I had imagined. She told me to be careful and started telling me about a place out east that was said to be home to the mercenary group known as the V12 Meisters. "If anything happens, meet there."

I agreed and signed off. My body was anxious, I could feel the rush of both fear and excitement overcoming me. I grabbed my bat and rushed to the door. My flashlight materialized in my hands, lighting the hallway with a bright glare off the glass that littered the floor. I could hear the glass crack and snap under my feet as I tried to sneak through without the Nightmare noticing me. The glass popped and rustled as I tip-toed through the hallways with care. "I turned every corner with great caution and precision. My light flickered off a broken mirror at the end of a hall and lit up the room to a great extent. The low level nightmares shifted by as though they didn't notice me, which was a relief. The less fighting, the better; and for that, I didn't mind sliding down the halls.

I chased after the Nightmare through several parts of the building with no end. I knew that as long as I kept my eyes on it, I could prepare for an evasive action to try and shake it from a chase... But its power was ominous and soared far beyond what I could handle alone, and in a close proximity. It strode into and open room, possibly the lounge. It looked around lifted its enormous arm and slashed through the railing of the second floor. The metal popped out with seemingly no effort from the beast, whom tossed the railing aside, breaking down the wall next to it. My body began to shake as I witnessed the feat it just performed, if it could get a hold of me, I be just as easy to rip apart; but, that wasn't the end of its horrific power." The beast hopped down to the first floor with a load boom, shattering the glass in the room. I covered my ears from the load ringing the crash caused, dropping my flashlight in the process. It slid to a nearby doorway, which was within reach. I glanced at the where the beast had jumped down from, making sure it didn't notice me, then reached over to pick up my flashlight. As I wrapped my hands around it, I noticed a claw, slide out from the darkness of the room and stop in front of my hand. Immediately I drew back and readied my bat for a fight. I flashed my light in the room and the claw withdrew, but from what I saw, it wasn't the beast, but a Saber-cat.

I began to shake uncontrollably, the anxiety of an immanent death nearly drove me insane. I had no choice but to take my chances with either the Beast, or the Saber-cat. I staggered back from the door, focusing on the shadows, and prepared to jump off the second floor to the ground floor. I managed to make it to close enough to peer over the edge, the Beast was gone. I sucked my teeth and turned back at the shadow of the door, but when my head focused back to the darkness the Saber-cat was already in mid-leap to pounce on me. I had a split second to react, but even that wasn't enough. I slammed the bat into the Saber-cat's vicious grip, diverting its fangs from ripping me in half, but the force of its pounce shoved me backwards and over the edge of the second floor. The beast's fangs dug into my uniform,but failed to pierce the lining.

We collided with the hard cement floor after falling for nearly an eternity. My body ached with a fiery pain all over. I tossed myself onto my side and readied my weapon to defend myself against the beast. It wobbled to its feet, glaring my way with a ferocious appetite. I could hear my heart beating slowly, and my sight was dimmed due to my low beast staggered to a pouncing position and beared its fangs. It got a running start and lept into the air, legs and claws ready to seep into my body and rip me apart; but it was stopped, suddenly being pinned to the wall by an ominous big black figure. I instantly pieced together the situation and knew that the figure was the Clawed Nightmare from before.

It lifted the saber cat, turned to me and crushed it in its claw. With my blurred vision, I struggled, crawling, to find something to aid me to my feet. The Nightmare started toward me, scraping its blood covered claw on the ground. I crawled toward the reception counter and pulled myself up to my feet. I peered at the Nightmare and stared at its scarred, distorted face, a face that struck me as familiar. For some odd reason, its face resembled someone I know, but I couldn't tell who, or why. The Nightmare picked up its pace, each step cracking the tiles of the floor from its size and claw slicing through the floor like butter. It reached me, leaning over to my face and staring me in the eyes. I looked away, but back at it again, this time in a deeper understanding. The Nightmare was trying to say something, but its mouth was laced shut with wire. Its eyes spoke a thousand words, each one I didn't want to hear. A lightning bolt flew across the sky, lighting up the room enough for me to see the Nightmares face clarity. My eyes instantly began to water, I turned myself around, my body was finally beginning to recover from the fall. I looked into the Nightmares eyes for the last time before looking away, but I couldn't take the overwhelming feeling of pain welding in my heart.

The Nightmare, the monstrous figure before me, was a strange dopple-ganger of my daughter. The second my mind registered the information, I went into withdrawn. The information was too much for me to handle. I fell to the floor in tears, not crying but in a blank state of denile. "It can't be her, she's at home. She's fine..." I stood up with my bat in hand. I knew what I had to do, even if it killed me.


	8. Chapter 8: Job Acquired, the Warrior

Chapter 8: Job Acquired, the Warrior

Name: Percy Rogers

Location: Federal Banking Building, Anniplex City

"I don't know what's going on, but this will not go unchecked..." I tightened my grip around my bat, starring into the depth of the darkness in the Nightmare's eyes. There wasn't even a reflection in the monsters eyes. "You're nothing but a figment of my imagination. You can't control me... I..." A tear rolled down my face, dropping once it reached my chin. The Nightmare seemed to respond to my statement, leaning back and scraping its claw against the floor. It pulled back its claw and immediately slashed at me.

I rolled out of the way, sliding to a safe spot away from its claw. It turned to me with a glare, distorting its face beyond recognition. I readied my bat, pacing around in a circle formation adjacent to the Nightmare. I fired my grapple at the Nightmare, latching it to its normal arm. I used the grapple to slingshot myself toward the Nightmare. It grabbed my grapple,and yanked it to the ground. My body flung wildly, unable to regain myself in time. The Nightmare pulled out it's claw, edging toward me slowly. I caught myself, flipping over its claw and past its head, smacking its face with my bat at full power.

It staggered back, slightly, but enough to buy some time. It swung its arm back at me, knocking me down. My bat slipped out my hand upon colliding with the floor. I looked around to see where it went, but there wasn't enough light in the room to see. I felt a tug on my pants leg, the husks were crawling toward me. They began pulling me into the darkness, relentlessly grabbing me. I pulled out my flashlight and flashed it at them, searing their faces; instantly, I kicked them off my leg and rolled away from their grasp. I looked over at the Nightmare, whom disappeared from my line of sight. Panic overwhelmed me, the fear of death crept into my mind. One in which no matter hard I tried, I could not escape. I slid back from the shadows of the collapsed wall and into the light that was produced from the lightning from outside. I turned, scanning the room for movement of any kind, but to no avail. My eyes, however stopped when I saw a figure, shattered and staring directly at me. It was horrified, shivering, and desiring only a swift end... I wiped my eyes to try and see slightly clearly, only to see that the figure was only a mirror without a glass. The frame was bent so out of shape, it resembled a person in mid-turn alert with attention but only in response to what awaits.

Upon this realization, my hands began to tremble. I raised them closer, close enough to where I could see them... I closed my eyes and fell to my knees in a solemn defeat. Even though I wanted to live, my body -deep down- gave up entirely and awaited for the rest of me to get the clue; and little did I know, it was working. I was defenseless, slowly becoming surrounded, and had no way of preventing this from escalating further without the bag.

I lacked the ability to admit this, no matter how hard I tried. I HAD to keep fighting, I HAD to survive, but for what? What was it that drove me to such an extent? My mind was going blank, I could feel myself slipping away. Nothing else mattered anymore, all I wanted to do was be with my family... Wherever they may be... But suddenly, a voice whispered through the darkness, too low to make out but loud enough to be heard. I raised my head in the darkness. Nothing existed, nothing could be seen or felt here. My body no longer shook uncontrollably. I was strangely at peace. Everything I wanted seemed to meet me in this Void of a place.

Again, the voice spoke. It echoed, not around me, but within me. I held my hands before me, observing them. Looking to find what I could not before. I looked up to where the sky should have been, but nothing was there... All except the Blood Moon. It gave no light, it held no beauty, only a disgustingly ominous glow that pierced the soul. It filled nearly the entire sky, looking down upon me, almost like it was laughing at me.

I stood up, staring into the moon. I reached out to touch it, my fingers poked at the rough, rocky fixture. It slowly burst into flares of light surrounding me in memories and emotions from my entire life. As they flashed before my eyes I heard the voice again, clear and sound like a resolute boast of victory- a claim of bravery that was undying and will forever live on.

"Are you going to be okay?" I looked about me, the darkness was clearing, the light was rising in the East, "Of coarse, I can't give up yet. If I can find out what the monster is after, I might be able to stop the bomb myself."

"That's right," I looked at my hands again, "I can't abandon them... I'm their only hope..." The light filled the room, the Nightmare dropped down from above, landing before me. It pulled back its claw and lunged forward to cut me in half. I reached out and stopped it with my hands. My strength was drastically increased, I felt like a new man. Its claw was sharp, cutting through my hand but not all the way. I used this time to pull out my pistol which also had a small modification: it was now fully restocked and capable of firing things called Psi-bullets, only taking a few PK points to use. I pulled the trigger, firing it into its face repeatedly. It pulled back its claw, not hurt by the gunfire, but stunned by the impacts.

It spun, swinging its arm in a crescent to knock me down. I managed to roll under its attack and slide through its legs. With that small window off time, I fired my grapple at its chest and pulled it down via its legs. It fell over but refused to stay down. I aimed my gun at its head ready to fire again. Just before I did, I noticed a small piece of metal out of place. It was connected to the escalator that was leading to the second floor.

It stood up, angered with my little performance. The Nightmare spread out its claw into smaller individual claws that spewed out a gas, corrosive enough to melt through the concrete of the floor. It jumped into the air, clung to the walls and ascended to the hole in the wall. The Nightmare stopped and turned to me, snarling at me. It raised its claw to the air in front of it. A small bone grinding noise echoed through the room.

I gazed at the Nightmare and its strange doings. I pulled out my pistol, firing at its claw, but a strange field protected it from my bullets. "How?" The Nightmare grinned, lept to the roof, and ripped off a piece of concrete to throw at me. The debri fell all around me, preventing me from evading. The Nightmare, directly above me, locked its death-gaze on me. I shielded my face from what was about to happen, if the possibility of me surviving was there, it wasn't much of an interval.

I paused and recoiled, prepared for the worst, but nothing happened. I opened my eyes, staring at the shield of light before me, shielding me from the Nightmare. I knelt down, readied my aim, and fired at the Nightmare again. This time, its figure broke into binary code, causing it immense pain. It rolled off my shield, evading my bullets. Its figure degraded to a smaller less inhuman form: a body entirely made of binary code. The shield lowered, I ran through and tackled the Nightmare, punching it with out an end. With ever punch, code torn itself from is body- 1s and 0s swarmed around us in a perfect circle formation. Its head leaned forward to me, saying something... At first it was scratchy, but after a few seconds, it began its message. "This... Is 1001010010 one of the members of Project Zero. And this is my research... On the origins of Anniplex 100101 dungeon..." The transmission ended...

I looked at the binary figure as it faded into my hand. I opened my hand and there sat a small device, an unknown and unregistered item in the system. I held it up to the light and saw that it had the picture of a wolf embedded into it with a crimson outline. The item faded into bits of light, automatically adding itself to my inventory. With nothing else but questions on my mind, I knelt down again, looking at the ground. My head held low,the sweat rolling my face and to the tip of my nose. "What is all this..." I held out my hand, a glove was forming around it. My entire uniform changed, with a new look and several new weapon holsters and gear slots. "Well, not like I can complain-"

I tried to contact Charlotte again to update her about the situation, but there was no answer. "Nice try, kid, but that won't work. Or at least, not as long as I'm here," I turned to the origin of the voice. A man in an incredible suit walked out from the shadows. He stopped, taking off his glasses and wiping them off with care. "You see, I'm special, just like you... And a few others of coarse," his voiced rose and dropped like that of an experienced actor. He placed his glasses back on his face. "But like all special people, we need to work together. So, will you join us, or perish?"


	9. Chapter 9: Julius

Chapter 9: Julius

Name: Norr Location: Lower Plains

"Where am I?" I leaned forward off the rocks supporting me from the rushing water below. My body was drained and I could barely fight the overwhelming gravity that seemed to be seizing me. I slowly crawled across the rocks , careful not to slip off into the roaring torrent of water. As I crawled, I heard vehicles driving by. They must not have seen me for none of theme stopped to aid me. One vehicle, however, slowed down as it strode by. I caught a glimpse of a symbol, a Serpent wrapped around a skull. The passenger's side window was down, revealing a shady character with heavily armed men around him. His gaze didn't break for one second, focused on the smoke cloud of the city, or what remained of it.

They picked up speed, the engine roared as they sped down the dirt road, disappearing into the dust clouds of the Plains. I stumbled to my feet, grabbing onto whatever I could to keep my balance. "Why does this kind of stuff always happen to me...?"

"Because, you're just getting started," a man stepped out in front of me, helping me stand. He was fairly old, a few grey hairs peeking out from his scruffy beard. "The Plains aren't for the faint of heart, you should keep to a party if you want to stay alive."

I cleared my parch throat, "who are you? Why are you helping me?"

"It's common courtesy, besides, it'd be a waste to let someone so young to meet an untimely end." We walked down the narrow burrow of rocks. After following down the path, we arrived at a small camp hidden from view of any passerbies. It was perfectly fit under a cliff, in a grove with small openings of light that glistened when they hit the small streams of springwater that streamed down the sides of the cave, pooling in various areas.

A girl walked out from a tent, rushing over to us and placing her hands on me. "Is he alright, Commander?"

He nodded solemnly, "He'll be fine. Heal him with your skills, at most it will only require a lv. 2 Cure." He turned over my care to her, although she was shorter than me, she was considerably stronger than me. "Try not to pester him too much, alright?"

"Yes Commander," she smiled. We walked over to a pool of water. She told me to wash myself off with the water while she scanned my body for all the damages done. I cooperated, knelt down, scooping up handfulls of water to wash my face and hands off. As I spooned my last couple of handfuls of water, I noticed my sleeve was torn.

I rubbed the area exposed by my missing piece, but found something in it's place. A strange mark had taken its place. It was a jet black tattoo, outlined in violent skin. I pulled my sleeve down just enough to cover the mark.

"Well, for the most part, you're clean." She sound normal, but I could tell she was hiding something. "The only thing that strikes my interest, or is-"

"You shouldn't bother the boy too much, Ellie." The old man walked next to me. He handed me a bottle, filled to the brim with a mysterious red liquid. "Drink up, its one of my better potions my alchemist brewed up."

Alchemist? Was this guy trying to experiment on me? If I wasn't so thirsty I would've turned it down but unfortunately, all I could suffice was a look of disgust, but a strange satisfaction... "It tastes like," I paused, lowering the bottle after one tiny sip. The liquid was pure red, looked like death, but tasted like an ice cold bottle of the freshed Ginger Ale I've ever tasted.

"It took a while for us to perfect it, but this area has alot to offer in materials and resources." He held out a small card. I took it with a slow caution. "That there is a card that could find the very way to escape this world."

I took another sip, glancing at him out the corner of my eye. Why would he want to leave this place...? Other than the hordes of monsters and poorly paid mercenaries who come to save you at the last minute, this place has a lot of potential. "What do you mean by 'leave'."

He smiled, I could tell he was amused. I handed him the card, he deposited it into his inventory. "I know that you've heard of the rising number of Nightmares around the world, right?"

"I just got here not too long ago."

His eyes raised, looking over at his partner. "...just got here... and he's this level?" The man rested his chin in his hand. He then looked me in the eyes and muttered something so only my ears could hear. He said something along the lines, "you might be one of the... They'll surely come after you..."

"Who are you talking about? Who are 'They'?"

He sighed and held out his hand for me to pull myself up. I grabbed his hand with a firm grip. "I've got alot to explain, in so little time." He guided me to the big tent. "Come, I'll show you everything I can to keep you alive. We'll take you to base, from there, you can decide on what your next coarse of action from there."

I looked him in the eyes, "Well, let's get started."

Reality Switch:

Name: Percy Rogers Location: Federal Banking Building, Anniplex City

The suited man smiled at me. His eyes were pitch black, almost like they were void of life. His long black hair made his appearance almost to that of some kind of a narcistic vampire... "Well, what is your answer, Pierce?"

I stood up slowly, holding one hand up to him to signal that I was still weighing my options. "I... This is such a tempting offer, mister..."

"Please," he bowed elagantly," call me Julius."

I shot him a puzzled look, luckily one he did not see. The rain poured even heavier than before, nearly dousing the entire floor. This made it slightly earlier to navigate, but not enough to see the oncoming waves of husks. "Tch!"

I turned, counting all the husks I could in one glance. It was nearly twenty of them. All with the same idea, feast on the unsuspecting prey. I reached for my gun, and as I lined my sight with the first husk I could see, I noticed several rays of light pierce all their skulls at once. "How pesky, their so inquisitive, aren't they?"

I turned, facing Julius. "What was that?"

He placed his hands on his hips and gested toward me with one open hand," certainly you must know of skills?"

I shook my head cluelessly.

"But you used it earlier when you fought that Nightmare... Unless you really are one of the chosen few that 'He' talked about..." Julius paused, turning away for a split second. After a moment passed, he faced my direction with those pitch black eyes. "He's one of them, but his power has yet to grow..."

"Then what will we do with him?" A voice broke from behind me. I spun as soon as I heard the first word come out of the mystery man's mouth. He was a scientist, or at least looked like one. "His potential is still valuable to the System..."

"Kayaba Akihiko, I thought you'd be better than that..."

"You're situation is the same as mine, Julius. Our worlds are intertwined in this computer. Real or not, you're very existence lies on the fate of the Network." The Kayaba character had a calm atmosphere about him; though his vocabulary was far greater than mine, I could tell that he was not an ally.

"So what does this have to do with me?" Looking for an answer, one that neither of them wished to give. "So what, am I some 'Pawn'?"

Kayaba walked beside me and placed his hand on my shoulder,"as I said before, you're sitution is just like mine. We can't leave from this computer unless we fix the System and remove the Virus."

"I know this place isn't perfect, but why'd you want to leave Kayaba?"

He laughed to himself briefly, but looked me in the eyes with a genuine answer. "I can't leave, regardless of if the System is fixed or not."

"Don't talk his head off, Akihiko. We're leaving." Julius walked into the shadows and dissappeared from sight.

Kayaba followed behind him, but stopped and looked back at me over his shoulder. "I'll look forward to our next meeting, Percy." Upon saying that he vanished into the darkness. I turned on my flashlight, sent out a few sonar pings, but neither picked up another human being... Or so I thought.

I turned to the hole in the wall. The rain continued to pour heavily. Charolette must be worried, I wasn't able to contact her in a while. I made another uplink and was able to connect with her. "Charolette, are you alright?"

"I should be asking you," I could hear a slight tapping sound in the background. "I found this computer, it has information about all the active members who were stationed here..."

"Computer?" I thought to myself. I didn't remember there being a computer in the station that was, or would be, still operational after the EMP. "What does it say?"

"Everything! I can see your equipment, status, and even your location!" She laughed to herself a bit, even I felt a slight sense of security knowing she's got my back. "I can't communicate with the others that are scattered about the city though." "The others?" I thought to myself for a moment, thinking about the possible help that could still be out there. "Okay, Charolette? Try you're best to connect with the others, tell them to head to the police station." I could hear her sigh a bit but nothing audible came from it. "If you can't reach them, turn on the spotlights that are located around the building, they'll keep the husks away and signal any other living people to that area!"

"Oh, that's a great idea! I think I can get the generator to send some power it stored up to the lights... It'll take me a while though."

"Take you're time, I still need to find the bomb." We dismissed the uplink and went on with our business. Though this seemed like the best idea to follow through with, something felt amiss. Something was lost, something important. That something had to be connected somehow... But how...

Reality Switch:

Name: Norr

Location: Resistance Base

I lowered my sword, breathing heavily and falling to one knee. "Told ya, he wasn't ready for the advanced training." I looked up at the instructor, whom was a bulky tall man with bulging muscles and great agility in close range fighting.

"I'm not finished! I can still-"

"No point in being modest kid, look at your status. By the way, you should always keep an eye on your status!" He chuckled and walked away, slamming the door to the Hazard Room- Training Center- behind him. "My status?" I opened the menu slowly, and found the error of my defeat. He somehow hit me with the Doom status... It was only a matter of time before I'd instantly lose, but the limiter on PvP battles keeps me from dying completely... I couldn't accept this as my last stand, I had to get the advanced training so I could go back to Anniplex city. But at this rate, even if I max all the basic techniques and skills, I wouldn't be able to go on the mission until about a week or at worst a month!

"You look like someone stole your sweet roll," a voice commented as the Hazard Room doors opened once again. "If you want to go to certain death that bad, then by all means hop on the bandwagon with the other rookies who no nothing of the Nightmares who roam the city and the plains at night." Out the corner of my eye, there stood a man dressed in a long silver coat with a suit and tie to match. His hair was combed over and his glasses showed every bit of intellegence he had was the real deal. Surrounding him were his accountants and bodyguards, all of high enough level to wipe out any threat in the area with ease.

"Who are you?"I asked out of pure curiousity.

"The man who's about to help you become a new light of hope. My name is Dante." He gested toward his small audience around him, "and these are my most trusted students and friends. All of which have met the requirements to become, what you might call, Dream Soldiers."

"'Dream Soldiers',what's that?"

"Its a rank of grande mastery, only legends wield this title. A title that you too can cherish, if you join me that is." His eyes met mine, my heart felt like it stopped for a moment. A window of opportunity has opened itself up to me, but how am I supposed to respond?" I turned away from his gaze for a second to contemplate the consequences. "Of coarse, if you deem yourself not worthy-"

"No, its not that..." I looked at him again. "I had some friends in Anniplex, they may still be in there, I have to save them!" Dante pushed his glasses back on his face with the palm of his hand.

He looked at me for a second and began to speak," You can't save anyone with that attitude." At that moment I could feel the weakness drawing in, and the fear of a harsh reality settling.

"W-what?"

He continued with a stern look," you see, when it comes to situations like these, you have to think of the picture abroad, can you really live with just saving your friends?"

paused to reflect on what he just said, and after a few moments had passed, I replied, "yes."

He sighed at my response," if you save your friends then your mission would be complete?"

I replied," yes, no matter what it takes!"

His face drew blank, no expression existed in that moment. "And what of the rest of the people of Anniplex who survived this nightmare long enough for rescue and won't get it because their focused on YOUR friends?" I froze, a thought I never took into consideration, all the people that would be left behind because of me... I wouldn't be able to live with that, and neither would my friends. Now I see what the teacher was trying to show me, 'look at the every detail before you dive into a problem, use your head.' "Now do you see the large gap you need to fill? You need real hand experience before you can go to the rescue, thats what seperates the rookies from the advanced." He turned to one of his accountants, a blue haired woman carrying a briefcase.

"Right," she walked over to me and gave me a hand to stand up,"if you grab my hand, you've chosen to take the first step at becoming one of us." What choice do I have, they know what I need to save my friends and everyone else in Anniplex city; but can I handle that torture? The risk of losing someone- my team, a pedestrian, anyone- thats a heavy burden... But its one that I'll need to carry from now on if I want to live. I reached out and grabbed her hand. And from this point on, I will set my goal to become a Dream Soldier.

Reality Switch: Name: Sarah Location: The S.L.A.M.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10: The Person in the Hood

Name: Sarah

Location: The S.L.A.M.

The ceiling opened up, splitting in two and receding over the stands as a shade from the scorching heat of the sun. Good thing I decided to keep things light for whats to come. Me and countless others stood in anticipation for the announcer to begin his drawn out speak of introductions. As he trotted about on his stage, the announcer tried to captivate the audience with every word and phrase he could, often coming up with rhymes to make the mood seem less tense. No one can sweet talk something like into being a "Game" or sport for others to enjoy. This was real, and no matter how you look at it, those who die here stay dead...

"Why so tense?" someone was nudging me with their elbow, and it was getting quite annoying. "Once we make it to the end, we'll be sitting on top of the world!" If it weren't for his idiotic expression of glee, I would have at least gave him a solid word or wisdom- Your going to die first. But, somethings are best left be. "So, what brings someone like you to a place like this?"

"(Are you serious) I'm looking for someone... need to get stronger to get where he is..."

"Oh? Eh, didn't take you for the type to go and enter this exam, you know, they say this thing will take you to the depths of Hell!"

"Look, I'm not interested in anything you have to say, alright? Leave me alone..." He's beginning to remind me of 'Him'.

He shut his trap for a second and started right back up again, "the name's Marcus by the way. I guess you could say I'm one of the only guys here who isn't bummed by the atmosphere... See you should cheer up like that guy." He pointed over at a man with the grin of a serial killer... At that moment, I knew Marcus was a pure fool.

"I'd like to pass on that, that man is a killer." I responded, a few of the people around me glanced over at us. They were listening the entire time. This guy is setting himself up to be wiped out in the first round... I slmost feel bad for him.

"AAAAAANNNNDDD, now to introduce the man behind with wondrous series of events, Julius hiimslef!"

Smoke and confety blew about like a snow storm, blinding everyone in the coloseum and muffling all sound with their deafening horns playing some melody that seemed to fade out everyting else but the cheering of the crowd encircling us. Once the smoke cleared, a man strode up to the podium on-stage. He cleared his throat and started his speech," today I stand before not as a man, but as a mentor. One who has seen the future through every possible angle and has deemed it unsettling. I, myself, have witnessed the end of all things. The Game Over for all of humanity. If we do not act, this end is guaranteed. But if we do, we will prevent the oncoming of the great End, and restore our lives to whence they once were."

"'The End'...? 'Game Over'...?"

"Shhhh!"

"It is these very brave souls here who will take the stand and pledge to face the darkness that dwells within the depths of the mind, and purify us from this evil that is to come." Jullius took a deep breathe and leaned forward," Remember to never let a pretty face decieve you, and to always look out for 'Number 1'. Let the Games begin!"

Upon the conclusion of his speech, the floor disolved into tiny pixels, creating a blurred screen between all the participants. The pixels stuck to the sky and drooped down, blanketing all in a new scenerio. Everyone looked around at each other and the surroundings. This wasn't the colosseum anymore, this was something entirely different. Where we teleported in all of this? Or is it truely just a Game afterall?

"Hey there, Earth to Blondy!" Marcus nudged me again, but this time with a more determined look. "We need to team up before everyone walks off!" He shook me rapidly until I kicked him away from me.

I turned, looking around a bit at whoever was left. At first glance, there was the man with the psychotic smile, a guy with long white hair in ragged clothes, and a person with a hood. All the others had made their choices of going alone or have teamed up with others. The picking are slim but anything beats going with that idiot...

"Yo, that hurt ya'know!" Marcus picked up his baseball cap and brushed himself off. "Plus now I got sand upp my-" He stopped with another stupid expression.

"Will you go away!" i yelled at him, its idiots like that who...

He suddenly jerked me aside and yelled at the others to get away, but they payed him no mind. The man with white hair kept a blank stare fixated on the shifting sand beneath our feet. "It's coming... approximately 300 meters away, South..." He looked up at the horizon, with his face still blank. "We're already too late, prepare for combat."

I yanked my arm away from Marcus and stopped where I was, I couldn,t process so much in so little time, so I froze. Marcus stopped too, coming back to explain to me that a 'Big One' was coming for us. Again I shoved him away, "leave me be!"

"NO! If you don't run, it'll swallow you whole!"

The person in the hood ran off toward a gigantic rock fixture not too far from us. One by one we followed, but not fast enough. The sand beneath us divided into two and a humongous Worm in the Zone-Eater class emerged. Zone-Eaters are B-class monsters, and is fought without proper preparation, they can be deadly. The psychotic man laughed uncontrollably as he rolled down the monsters ridged back.

"H-HEY!" Marcus reached out to save him. I slapped his hand away, and ran up the body of the beast. Marcus stood still, hanging on to the monsters body as it continued its ascent toward the sky, leaping to a great height before slowly curving its body for a dive back into the sand, which will kill us instanly from the impact. The man with white hair leapt off the beasts back and rolled down its coilling body. "What! Are you guys insane?!" Marcus continued whining while the others did the only logical thins left to do- flee.

I ran to the top of the beast and leapt off while turning backwards, I shot my grapple at the Worm's back and swung down to it's lower region and doing the same thing there. I glanced up for a second and noticed Marcus falling to his demise, idiot... Does he not know how to use the Grappple technique? I broke my line midway to catch him, which threw me off course. Marcus thanked me with pitiful eyes, I rolled mine and dropped him on the ground once I got the chance. I rolled to a stop, breathing heavy from the large cloud of sand it dug up from it leap and dive. "Get up you idiot! We need to get to the rocks, it can't find us there!" If I remember correctly, Zone-Eaters are blind and deaf, but can sense vibrations quite well through their rough exterior skin, which is impenetrable by normal weapons. "We aren't going to be able to beat it like this. Regroup on the rock, got that, Puppet-man?"

"Puppet... Man?" The man with the silver hair gave me a blank questioned face. "I can't take an order from you... not without forming a party first."

He ran past me at a blazing speed, not even looking back. I got the notification for a party invite. Marcus slowly staggered to the rock as well, tripping on the shifting sands created by the Zone-Eater. I accepted it and grabbed the idiot so he'd quit embarassing himself. "Hurry up and accept his party invite! That way we'll be able to beat this thing a lot easier!" I dragged him with me to the base of the rock. I shot my grapple to the far reaches of the top, but felt te sands beneath my feet suddenly being sucked away rapidly, causing me to fall. My grapple dissipated as I reached out for something to hold onto. "What's going on?"

Within an instant, I felt something yank me up and toss me in the air. It was the person in the hood. The person flipped, landing on the rock and crouching to pull out his weapon. I rolled once landing on the rock, quickly materializing my bow and quiver. "Where's Puppet?" I asked the person in the hood, but he didn't respond. "We need to work together if we wanna live, got that?"

"Hmph, I don't take orders from you, got that?"

Whoever this person was, they had a quick mouth... Guess I deserved it, 'He' always told me I had a trouble with first impresseions. "We all have our reasons for being here, I know. But if we can't work together, we'll-"

"-Die? What a clique! It's that type of crap that caused me to become that way I am... I won't fall for that crap ever again!" The person turned to me with his dagger aimed at me. "I also know what lies at the end of the tunnel. You and I... we lead two different roads. One for yourself, and another for someone else... which are you... Sarah..."

My eyes widened, I knew that tone of voice. A friend of mine from the outside world once had that same tone when she said my name... Nin... "What are you doing, Nin? We're on the same side here."

Her head dropped, but her dagger didn't. "No, we're not... and I know exactly why... The person you're looking for... you're 'father'... he's the reason I-"

"LOOK OUT!"

We both turned to the sound that broke the tension, a shadow had loomed over the entire area. The Zone-Eater had slithered out of its hole again, this time staring down at us with its cryptic gaze. "We don't have any other choice, either work with us, or die on your own!" I looked back at her from over my shoulder, her eyes met mine. It was then that I knew her answer... we both knew...

Disclaimer (2.0): After long consideration (and overly drafted ideas) I've decided to change the aspect of the story from one simple aspect to another. All characters (if not stated before, haven't checked it in a while so please forgive me, belong to their rightul owners. I do not own any of the characters whom as previously stated are owned by the big companies we love oh so much. This is indeed a parody of said characters, so please bare with me in the creation of such in the development of the story. Thank you faithful readers for bareing with my slow (seemingly non-existent) updates to the story, and as such, I'll present to you all with many more fantastic chapters soon enough, and hopefully longer than the previous ones (*u*)


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